Death ignores White privilege.
Via WaPo:
The long decline in Americans’ death rates has reversed course, according to preliminary 2015 numbers for all causes of mortality as compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many factors are implicated in the turnaround, including a rise in deaths from firearms, drug overdoses, accidental injuries, suicides, Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension and stroke.
In a report released Wednesday, the CDC looked at changes in death rates per 100,000 people between 2014 and 2015, adjusting the findings to reflect an aging population as the baby boomers head into their retirement years.[…]
“There’s no smoking gun here,” said Farida Ahmad, mortality surveillance lead for the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. She calls the increase in mortality “unusual,” noting that it’s the first time since 2004-2005 that the rate went up rather than down.
“It’s something that we’re going to be looking into and watching to see if it holds for 2016. It could be that it’s just a blip as it was 10 years ago,” she said.[…]
Numerous researchers have been focusing on the sharp and unanticipated rise in mortality among whites, particularly white women, in their midlife years. The Washington Post’s own analysis of the nation’s death rates indicates that this increase is pronounced in small cities, small towns and the most rural areas.